I P E K K O T

İ PEK KOTAN

Born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1977, Kotan studied media arts with emphasis on photography at Emerson College in Boston, USA. She later attended Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, USA and completed her foundation studies where she explored drawing, painting, ceramics, and metal smithing. In 2008 she moved to Stoke-on-Trent, UK and received her master’s in ceramics from Staffordshire University in Stoke-on-Trent, UK. In 2010 she established her own studio practice.

Kotan is represented by Adrian Sassoon in the UK. She has received commissions from Cartier and Barneys New York and her works are represented in over 250 private and public collections and museums worldwide. She was the first and only artist to complete a year-long residency at the European Ceramic Work Centre, now also known as sundaymorning@ekwc, a residency whose past residents include artists such as Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormly and Betty Woodman. Her work has been reviewed by renowned ceramic art critic Walter Lokau, former Christie’s senior director, interior designer Richard Rabel, published in art publications such as Ceramic Review, New Ceramics, Art Aurea and popular magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar as Elle Decor.

Public collections representing Ipek Kotan’s works include the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in the Netherlands, Dresden Museum of Decorative Arts and Landshut Museum in Germany.

Ipek has previously lived in Turkey, the United States, Indonesia, England, Austria, Switzerland is currently based in Leiden, Netherlands.

[email protected] I ipekkotan.com I +31 620 34 9636 I Leiden, Netherlands İ PEK KOTAN

CURRICULUM VITAE 1977 Born in Istanbul, Turkey Lives and works in Leiden, The Netherlands

EDUCATION 2010 MA Ceramic Design, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK 2008 Foundation Studies in Art and Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA 2000 BA Media Arts, Emerson College, Boston, USA

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands Staatliche Kunstammlungen Dresden, Dresden, Germany Museen der Stadt Landshut – Rudolf Strasser Collection, Landshut, Germany Presidential Art Collection, Ankara, Turkey

SOLO SHOWS 2016 Puls Contemporary Ceramics, Brussels, Belgium 2015 Inside Out, Brutto Gusto Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany 2013 Ipek Kotan: New Works, Beaux Arts Gallery, Bath, England 2011 Ausstellung Nr. 19: Ipek Kotan, Galerie Bollhorst, Freiburg, Germany

COMMISSIONS 2019 Cartier, Dubai, United Arab Emirates 2013 Presidential Art Collection, Ankara, Turkey 2012 Barneys New York, New York, USA

ONGOING REPRESENTATION 2019 Adrian Sassoon, London, England 2019 Bronze No:5, Istanbul, Turkey

SELECTED PAST EXHIBITIONS AND REPRESENTATION 2019 Decorex, London, England 2019 Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2019 European Contemporary Craft Show, Kuwait City, Kuwait 2018 PAD London, represented by Adrian Sassoon, London, England 2018 Sogo Museum of Art, Yokohama, Japan 2018 Masterpiece London, represented by Adrian Sassoon, London, England 2017 International Ceramics Competition, Mino, Japan 2017 M.17, Museum of Applied Arts, Frankfurt, Germany 2017 PAD London, represented by Adrian Sassoon, London, England 2017 Revelations, represented by swissCeramics, Paris, France 2016 Galerie Eva Maisch, Würzburg, Germany 2016 Contemporary Istanbul, represented by ECNP Galeri, Istanbul, Turkey 2016 European Ceramics and Glass Triennial, Mons, Belgium 2016 Modern Classics, Westerwald Museum, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany 2016 Decorex, London, England 2016 KunstRAI - Art Amsterdam, represented by Annelien Kers Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands 2016 Ceramic Art London, Central Saint Martins, London, England 2015 Neue Raüme, represented by Formforum, Zurich, Switzerland 2015 Craft and Makers, Galerie Johanssen, Berlin, Germany

[email protected] I ipekkotan.com I +31 620 34 9636 I Leiden, Netherlands Kotan CV, 2019, page 2/2

2015 15 Years, 2000 – 2015, Galerie Franz Epple, Tuerkheim, Germany 2015 Ceramic Art London, Royal College of Art, London, England 2014 SOFA Chicago, represented by Armaggan Gallery, Chicago, USA 2014 Vase, Vessel, Void, Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin, Ireland 2014 Ceramic Art London, Royal College of Art, London, England 2013 Parcours Céramique Carougeois, Carouge, Switzerland 2013 Mechtild Lobish, Ipek Kotan & Thomas Bohle, Galerie Franz Epple, Tuerkheim, Germany 2013 Hand Made, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands 2013 Ceramic Inspirations, Bavarian State Archeological Museum, Munich, Germany 2013 Modern Masters, Galerie Handwerk, Munich, Germany 2013 In the Window, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool, England 2012 Contemporary Craft & Design, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, London, England 2012 SOFA Chicago, represented by Armaggan Gallery, Chicago, USA 2012 Grassimesse, Grassi Museum, Leipzig, Germany 2012 International Turned Wood & Ceramics, Sarah Myerscough Fine Art, London, England 2011 Vierundzwanzig zwoelf, Galerie Eva Maisch, Wuerzburg, Germany 2009 British Ceramics Biennial, Stoke-on-Trent, England

AWARDS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2017 Mino International Ceramic Competition, finalist, Mino, Japan 2017 Westerwald Ceramics Museum, Modern Classics Competition, finalist, Westerwald Germany 2014 Turkish Cultural Foundation, Cultural Exchange Fellowship, Washington D.C., USA 2016 Turkish Cultural Foundation, Cultural Exchange Fellowship, Washington D.C., USA

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2016 Resident Artist, European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC), Oisterwijk, Netherlands 2015 Resident Artist, European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC), Oisterwijk, Netherlands 2014 Resident Artist, Fondation Bruckner, Geneva, Switzerland 2013 Resident Artist, European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC), 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands 2008 Teacher’s Assistant, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, United States

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS 2017 New Ceramics “Pure Vessel: on ceramist Ipek Kotan”, Germany, September-October, p. 32-34 2017 Harper’s Bazaar Arabia Interiors “The Urge to Create”, United Arab Emirates, March, p. 48-49 2016 All Decor “Zamandan Bagimsiz Isler”, Turkey, September-October, p. 168-169 2016 Talking Ceramics by Monika Auch. The Netherlands, June 2016, p. 150-153 2015 Art Aurea “The Beauty Inside”, Germany, winter, p. 38-45 2015 Cfile Online “Ipek Kotan: Mining Gold”, Crowe, Justin. Garth Clark. 6 August 2015. Web. 2014 Ceramic Review “The Beauty of the Bowl”, Lokau, Walter H. UK, July-August, p. 30-35 2014 Elle Decoration “Yeni Sanat”, Turkey, June-July, p. 226 2013 Artam Global Art & Design “Roportaj”, Turkey, March-April, p. 118, 121 2012 Artam Global Art & Design “Sanat Pazari”, Turkey, November-December, p. 54 2012 Harper’s Bazaar Interiors “Editor’s Choice”, United Arab Emirates, May-June, p.25 2012 Elle Decoration “Yasam Now”, Turkey, April, p.114 2012 House Beautiful “Rafinelik Duygusu”, Turkey, April, p. 96, p. 98, p. 100 2011 Maison Francaise “Icimdekileri Seramigin Diliyle Anlatiyorum”, Turkey, April, p. 92-93

[email protected] I ipekkotan.com I +31 620 34 9636 I Leiden, Netherlands İ PEK KOTAN

Artist Statement

Kotan’s work stems from a visceral need to create with her hands using natural materials and a love of the vessel form. Being one of the oldest objects ever made; one of the most commonly found in archeological sites the world over and one of the most essential in daily life even after 30,000 years, the vessel for her is an embodiment of timelessness, endurance and the universality of the human experience.

Generosity, openness, sharing, offering and protection are the core of its DNA, weaving it tightly into the better parts of the story of humankind. Ipek is interested in what the vessel symbolizes historically and metaphysically rather than its potential as a functional object and uses it as a canvas and a frame in which she explores sculptural, modern and minimalist expressions.

Even the slightest adjustment to the angle or sharpness of a rim, the thickness or the contour of a wall, the relationship of textures and colors between the interior and the exterior can make a world of difference in the character of her pieces. This exploration of nuances is the essence of her work.

For the majority of her works she uses Limoges porcelain but also mixes her own porcelain as well. This is particularly necessary for the thicker and larger works which tend to crack more. Using raw materials, she mixes her own glazes, meaning she develops and experiments with hundreds of new glazes every year only to pick a handful to work with to further develop.

Depending on the type of porcelain she uses, the size and thickness of a piece, from the moment she starts to mix or knead the porcelain to the moment a piece is glazed, fired, sanded and finished, it can be anywhere from a few weeks up to a few months. Kotan creates each piece on the wheel, without the help of any moulds. Each piece is hand-made and one-of-a-kind.

[email protected] I ipekkotan.com I +31 620 34 9636 I Leiden, Netherlands İ PEK KOTAN

REVIEWS

"The artist creates, the industry manufactures. The artist loves her work, industry transforms men into robots. The crafted art, works with human warmth, it breaths the rhythm of its creator and makes one imagine the attention it has received from her. A woman, a man, alone in their studio, in silence, taking a material like earth or wood, slowly with their bare hands, with their love, their imagination they give life to an object and this object will give life to what their deepest secrets, their most profound and intimate being. Ipek Kotan’s bowl, perfectly reveals this exchange.

Excerpt from the catalogue for “Revelations” biennial at the Grand Palais in Paris,

where I was represented by swissCeramics association

by Catherine Camus, published in May 2017

“Kotan’s gilded paintings are created in a state-changing period of molten glass and growing crystals. […] It is an effect so visually complex that it releases the surface from the preconceptions of “glaze” placing it between the mysterious depths of an iris and geological treasure. The grandeur of the gilded paintings are showcased by her thrown porcelain forms, specific enough to be called a bowl but ambiguous enough to be absent of direct historical references.”

Excerpt from “Mining Gold”

by Justin Crowe, published on Cﬁle in August 2015

“There they are: Kotan’s elegant, elemental, and timeless vessels; familiar yet endlessly varied, quiet yet resonant, perfect but full of character, and irresistibly appealing. […] What unites them all is their restrained, dignified beauty, created by a singular personality yet deeply rooted in the anonymous history of humankind’s vessels.”

Excerpt from “Beauty of the Bowl”

by Dr. Walter H. Lokau, featured in the July/August 2014 issue of the Ceramic Review

“Turkish born and Geneva based, Ipek Kotan (b.1977) is a breath of fresh air in the world of contemporary ceramics. […] The results are beautiful Limoges porcelain and stoneware bowls and vessels that have rich textured interiors glazed in copper and earthy tones and whose forms are drawn from traditional Mesopotamian pottery. This contrasts beautifully with the unglazed exteriors of both her Limoges pieces which are silky smooth and of her stoneware pieces that have a rough, unfinished, and slightly rustic feel to them.”

Excerpt from “East Meets West in the Modern Mesopotamian Ceramics of Kotan”

by Richard Rabel, published on Modern Sybarite in April 2013

[email protected] I ipekkotan.com I +31 620 34 9636 I Leiden, Netherlands

selection of works acquired by museums and private collections

2012- 2018

İ PEK KOTAN

Limoges porcelain, bronze glaze, 2012 50 x 3 cm Acquired for the Dresden Museum of Arts in Germany at Grassi Museum’s annual art and design fair Grassimesse in Leipzig, Germany, 2012